


Peaceful in The Dark

by lilys_bananas_coven



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Comfort, Dreams and Nightmares, F/F, Freeform, Insomnia, Late Night Conversations, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Not Canon Compliant, POV Mikasa Ackerman, Sketches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29354634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilys_bananas_coven/pseuds/lilys_bananas_coven
Summary: Mikasa had nightmares. Annie had insomnia and a sketchbook.
Relationships: Mikasa Ackerman & Annie Leonhart, Mikasa Ackerman/Annie Leonhart
Comments: 11
Kudos: 133





	Peaceful in The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Hi so this doesn't really follow the plot but it also doesn't really go against it, it's just kind of a little sliver in between,,,, idk pls enjoy hhh :')

Annie moved with a kind of swiftness and speed that was almost surreal. In fact, everything about her seemed somewhat... Unreal. 

  
After studying and going on enough expeditions with Captain Levi, Mikasa was getting the hang of how he moved. They shared the same blood; perhaps something about that made him more predictable and easy to mimic when killing titans was concerned. He was agile and a master at his art, but he wasn't quite a mystery. 

  
Annie, on the other hand, was nothing if not a mystery. 

  
Everything there was to life seemed to bore the blonde- everything except fighting. Something about her was unmistakably more lively than usual during combat. It didn't seem solely due to the fact that she barely moved more than she absolutely had to if she wasn't fighting. There was something in her eyes; the vibrant blue seemed to defrost with each punch she threw, with each slice of her blades, with each successful dodge. Her calculated steps and blows weren't unlike a perfectly mastered dance routine, and yet no matter how many times Mikasa attended her recitals she could never predict the blonde's next move. 

  
Mikasa tried over and over again to figure out the ways in which Annie made her feel. She found herself the kind of person who could only rest easy once her emotions were dissected down to the smallest details and open for scrutiny, where she could understand what she was dealing with. Needless to say, she'd been having sleepless nights for a while now. To top it off, Sasha, her roommate, was recently replaced with Annie for whatever reason. Annie was essentially harmless and what some called the most ideal roommate, but being tucked in a small room with her from dusk till dawn almost always prompted Mikasa with more unwanted thoughts of her. 

  
Each time Mikasa woke up in the night, sweating from a nightmare and wishing no one would catch her so vulnerable, Annie was there.

  
If she thought anything of the unwanted tears on Mikasa's cheeks, she didn't show it. She made no moves to cross the three feet between their beds. She didn't ever bother to ask if the girl was alright. And yet, Mikasa found a way to appreciate the blonde's indifference; it made it slightly easier to pretend that no one knew she was a slave to her own subconscious mind. In return, she never asked why Annie was always up at such odd hours, the sharp features on her small face illuminated by a small light on her bed frame. Sometimes what looked like a sketchbook rested in her lap, and other times she simply sat up and stared at the wall. Perhaps Annie's previous roommate, Christa, found it creepy. Mikasa couldn't find any reason to be uncomfortable around Annie despite her weird habit of never sleeping, even if she sometimes felt Annie's stares in her direction. They maintained their peace through unspoken agreements to never mention the nights they shared in this way- not that either of them ever thought of telling anyone. Annie simply didn't talk to people unless she had to. Mikasa knew Eren would grab at any opportunity he could to insult the blonde because of how she pummeled him into the ground, so she didn't bother. 

  
But one night played out a little differently. 

  
Mikasa panted, jolting out of sleep and into a sitting position. Her hands pressed hard into the bed, holding up the weight of her upper body as she fought to catch her breath. She hadn't dreamt of her parents in a couple of weeks now. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks, one after another to keep the salty rivers flowing. It was all so vivid, how she remembered it. There were details there that she wasn't even sure were real. How many times did she have to painfully recall their deaths before her mind began to distort the memories? Try as she might, Mikasa couldn't hold back a strangled sob. At the loud sound, it became even harder to glance to her left, her cheeks flaming with embarrassment and residual fear. She was usually better at staying quiet for her own sake. The smallest hint of light came from that side of the room, indicating that Annie was awake.

  
Forcing herself to take deep breaths, Mikasa was able to regulate her airflow. The tears were next to go, taking much longer than usual. Her long sleeves were damp from how she dabbed at her face with them. She still couldn't bear to know if Annie was watching her, having resorted to ignoring the left side of the room entirely.

  
Eyes closed and entirely focused on calming herself down, Annie's soundless footsteps were lost on Mikasa. She froze, blinking up at the blonde who now stood by her bed, towering over her hunched frame. 

  
"May I sit?" she asked, tone devoid of feeling. 

  
In her confusion, Mikasa nodded weakly. Annie then sat herself down somewhere in the middle of the mattress, seeing as Mikasa was perched far up on her head pillow. She seemed to have no problem getting comfortable, kicking off her slippers in favour of tucking her knees under her her chin. She rested her cheek on them, head turned to look at Mikasa. Without the little light from her bed, the blues of her eyes seemed much darker- much like deep pools of water. Something in them still managed to sparkle in the dark. How peculiar. 

  
"I used to think you looked peaceful when you sleep. You're not, though," Annie spoke, the ever present monotony of her voice easily accompanied by a gentle undertone Mikasa wasn't sure she'd ever heard before. 

  
Mikasa didn't know what to say, so she remained silent. Annie didn't appear to mean anything by her statement, saying it like it was more an observation than anything else. The thought prompted a response from Mikasa, albeit a delayed one. The silence in between their words was only filled with barely blinking eye contact that wasn't in the least bit uncomfortable. 

  
"Do you watch me while I sleep?" Mikasa finally managed, voice reduced to a tired mumble. 

  
"Yeah. Sometimes," Annie admitted, not bothered in the slightest to confess such a thing. 

  
"Why don't you sleep?" Mikasa then asked, allowing herself a moment to entertain the curiosity she only ever tucked away in her mind. 

  
"I do, just not for long. A doctor called it insomnia." 

  
Mikasa tilted her head at the unfamiliar term. Was there one for her violent nightmares, or were those just nightmares? She nearly shook her head at the dumb thought. 

  
"How do you stay awake during the day then?" 

  
Annie blinked at her once, then twice. Mikasa felt a strange sense of calm in her presence, to her surprise. 

  
"I don't know. I'm used to it, I guess," she then muttered, as if the question asked more of her than it really did. 

  
A few minutes passed without any words spoken between them. Annie eventually turned her head to face her bed across from them while Mikasa remained looking at her side profile. Her muscles were on display in the dim lighting and a tank top, each crevice and depression indicated by a darker shadow. Mikasa didn't need to envy her figure, for she had her own toned body from copious amounts of training. Still, that didn't mean Annie wasn't beautiful to look at. 

  
"Do you draw?" blurted Mikasa, seemingly out of nowhere. 

  
"Hm?" Annie hummed, turning to her with the same bored expression she always wore. She had heard Mikasa the first time. 

  
"It's a sketchbook you have, right? D-do you draw?" Mikasa asked again, thankful for the darkness concealing her unexpected blush. 

  
"I do. I don't know if I'm any good. No one really taught me," Annie said. There was a distant look in her eyes, as if she were looking back at her past to confirm it. 

  
"I haven't drawn since I was little," whispered Mikasa, almost shy to confess so. She couldn't understand why. 

  
Annie only nodded at the information, as if she were taking note of it for future reference. Her mannerisms seemed rigid and calculated, and yet her body language was undeniably relaxed. She was both strange in more ways than one and completely normal at the same time. Mikasa was in disbelief at the sheer amount of time she spent thinking about Annie. She couldn't understand why her mind thought any of the little details she observed were important. The way the blonde girl unconsciously fiddled with the ring on her middle finger, or the way she tilted her head in a slight but sharp movement just to get her fringe out of her eyes, or the way she stared for long moments before she blinked- these useless obsevations occupied Mikasa's mind. 

  
To her dismay, Mikasa was as intrigued by Annie as she was frustrated by her interest. It just didn't feel like her. 

  
"Do you feel better?" Annie asked, this time being the one to break their silence.

  
Taken aback by her question, Mikasa's eyes widened slightly. Her lips were parted as if to say something; as if to ask Annie why she cared, to ask her why she wanted to know if she was okay. But all she could do was nod. And in return, Annie simply nodded back at her. The bored expression remained on her face, not quite a frown but far from a smile. She blinked slowly, glanced back at Mikasa a last time, and then got off the bed. Mikasa stared until the latter was in her own bed and facing the wall before she tucked herself back in too. Annie did that to make her feel better, right? She was certain of it, despite not understanding why. The blonde had done all that- she had sat with her, albeit mostly in silence, until she was sure Mikasa was over her nightmare. There was no other explanation. 

  
It didn't matter; she was out in seconds once she could tear her eyes away from Annie's back. 

  
At the break of dawn, Mikasa blinked tiredly to the sound of the alarm bells. Even a rooster would sound better. As per usual, Annie was nowhere in sight. Mikasa understood now that since she didn't really sleep, she most likely left to train early. Her unmatched fighting skills suggested heaps more training than the rest of the cadets engaged in. But if she didn't head off to train... What else did Annie do before the rest of the world awakened? 

  
As Mikasa pulled herself out from beneath her thin blanket, a folded piece of paper fell from the fabric. She bent to pick it up, using it as an excuse to stretch her back as she did so. Her fingers trembled around the piece of paper once her eyes fell on its contents. There was a girl, in the drawing. Her hair was splayed out on a pillow, blanket pulled up to her chin, body curled into a fetal position. Her face was partially covered by her blanket and hair. The long sleeved sleep shirt was in fact the one Mikasa was wearing now. That girl in the drawing looked identical to her. That girl in the drawing was her. 

  
And when she turned to see if there was anything on the back, written in small, neat letters was a note. 

  
'You looked peaceful when you went back to sleep again.'

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments are vv much appreciated, I'd love to get some feedback because I'm still really new to writing for AoT :>
> 
> Stay safe and have a good day/night :)


End file.
